FBI expands $10,000 reward program for info on laser strikes

Meanwhile, a California man pleads guilty to aiming laser at an aircraft.

In response to an increasing concern about individuals firing laser pointers at aircraft (aka "laser strikes"), the FBI has expanded its new $10,000 reward program to the entire United States, including Guam and Puerto Rico. Anyone providing the FBI with information that leads to the arrest of someone who perpetrates a laser strike could receive thousands of dollars.

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In February 2014, the federal agency began the reward program in FBI field offices where “laser strikes against aircraft are prevalent.” Those cities included Albuquerque, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Juan (Puerto Rico), and the Washington Field Office.

It may seem like a silly thing, but laser strikes against planes, helicopters, and other aerial vehicles have become an increasing epidemic nationwide. Since the FBI began keeping track in 2005, there have been more than 17,000 laser strikes—one-fifth (3,960) in 2013 alone. During the first three months of 2014, the FBI reported an average of 9.5 incidents daily.

While no serious injuries or deaths have occurred, pilots say that being struck by a laser can be a terrifying experience and can cause temporary blindness.

“Aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a serious matter and a violation of federal law," said Joe Campbell, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, in a statement released on Tuesday. “The public awareness campaign we launched in February has been effective in reducing the number of incidents, and our hope in expanding the program is that people will think twice about illegally using these devices.”

The FBI's announcement comes as David Walter Fee, a 22-year-old man from Fresno, California, pleaded guilty to aiming a laser pointer at a California Highway Patrol airplane up to 50 times.

As Ars reported last month, Fresno has become the nation’s capital of laser strike convictions, as one of the largest cities in the 34-county region of the judicial zone known as the Eastern District of California. Fee's case is the ninth conviction under federal law from this region.

Combined with an additional 20 state convictions from this same region, this federal district alone constitutes 35 percent of the 80 laser strike convictions nationwide—state and federal—since the FBI began keeping track a decade ago.

Cyrus Farivar
Cyrus is the Senior Business Editor at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is due out in May 2018 from Melville House. Emailcyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@cfarivar